UniAlter

Josée Madéïa

I start off the day with a session at UFPA by the Indigenous Environmental Network, (“Peoples Energy and Climate Justice”). The goal of this session is to inform about the perspectives of Indigenous people on global warming and some of the solutions that are viewed as more viable. Using the language of climate justice is important then, because people are so differently affected by this chaos and we have to be able to look at these injustices and their repercussions: on health, on water, on energy, on food sovereignty… especially since these issues are too often compartmentalized (by our governments and in our own thinking).

Jutta of the Durban Group for Climate Justice/FERN, eloquently starts by saying, “I come from the part of the world that still has the privilege of having access to information. With this privilege comes responsibility. » She talks about the extent to which carbon markets are bad for forest peoples, are bad for all of us. Carbon markets are sold to us by governments, corporations and large organizations as a way to solve the climate crisis but it has been designed to make us think that industry is on the ball. But this industry has been able to pollute the global commons without limit or payment and is now putting a price on carbon, a cap on how industry can pollute.

We must remember, she tells us, that real change has never been the result of market initiatives. Public mobilization is what’s needed. We have to stop thinking that someone somewhere else, on indigenous land, will offset our pollution. And who are these contracts designed by? Never the communities involved (the risks are theirs, but never the benefits). Furthermore, this carbon market cannot be used for forest protection but to establish plantations in the forests (and if GM and Chevron are buying and financing carbon offset projects for PR purposes, we need to be critical).

Another speaker (whose name I unfortunately didn’t catch), begins by telling us that each year, land the size of Peru is deforested and of course, for those using forests as a source of food, of resources and community, this is more than just a bit problematic. “I think we all know that forests aren’t just a place to store carbon, he says. They are homes, they are health, they are economic systems. Our forests are our diversity, our supermarket, our pharmacy.”

The idea, thus far, has been for northern governments to pool money together for people who are protecting forests, but the truth of the matter is that this money isn’t reaching the communities. On top of this, the World Bank is emerging as a carbon banker while still lending to coal and oil and gas. Funders of carbon intensive development. So there are many contradictions. And for Indigenous people especially, who are concerned about their right to land and resources, how can they negotiate if they aren’t recognized as the owners of their land? He ends his talk by saying “We don’t have time. The fish are confused right now. The ants are confused. Let’s stop looking for money, money is just a tool anyway. We have to act together now.”